Manhattan Bed & Breakfasts Face Extinction

Manhattan BnB owner Anne Edris in her Avenue C BnB, which has recently been forced to close. (Emily Assiran)

Manhattan BnB owner Anne Edris in her Avenue C BnB, which has recently been forced to close. (Emily Assiran)

“You can do this now, or we can come back later,” a representative from the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement Task Force said to Anne Edris, owner of East Village Bed & Coffee, a bed and breakfast in the East Village, who had just opened the front door. It was three days before Thanksgiving, at 8:30 a.m., and Ms. Edris, with a house full of guests behind her, asked the Task Force, which included a police officer, firefighter, and Department of Buildings employee, for a warrant. They informed her it would only take four hours to return with one, so she cooperated.

Ms. Edris let them into her small licensed operated facility, where she has run a business for the past 16 years, and hosted more than 60,000 guests, with over 50 percent repeat customers. She pays state, city, and hotel occupancy taxes for her business, and provides a unique neighborhood experience for world travelers. Swept up in legislation passed in 2010, designed to eliminate short-term rentals and illegal hotels in residential or single-room-occupancy buildings, Ms. Edris, along with many other legal B&B owners, were suddenly rendered illegal when the law was enforced in July 2011.